The World's Children (100 Themes Challenge)
by tigerlily-parade
Summary: Though they have lost their immortality, the nations have brought forth an even greater life force-their children. Aside from having personified countries as parents, these kids live fairly normal lives. Just like the rest of us, they love, laugh, cry, and experience all of the ups and downs that life has to offer. (Contains OCs as well as many canon characters.)
1. 001 - Introduction

**Author's notes:** Somewhat of a re-upload. (Same concept, but many chapters are going to be re-written).

Series will contain same-sex couples (two OC couples and several common pairings of canon characters) as well as some suggestion of mpreg, though there will be minimal focus on the mpreg after this chapter. To be completely honest, I'm not that into it, but I'm making an exception for this particular series. (Long story short, the OC characters are based off an old sims 2 game in which I had hetalia sims and didn't care about realism at all.)

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><p>It is commonly known among mortals that the personifications of countries will live for as long as the world needs them.<p>

Less commonly known, however, is that the world never really needed both a male and female personification of each nation. Also less commonly known is that the earth, throughout history, has given personifications the chance to give up their immortality, releasing either the male or the female version of each nation from their burdens depending on which one took advantage of the opportunity first. Even the nations themselves, however, are unaware of when these chances arise, and those who have become mortal in the past have often done so by accident. After all, abandoning one's immortality is not as simple as making some wish to the universe to no longer be immortal. There are a number of methods through which a nation can achieve mortality, however, and one is through having children.

When Feliciano and Ludwig learned that they would be having a child, they didn't know what to think. Personifications can only reproduce when it is meant to happen, which typically signifies the downfall of that nation; the child that they give birth to usually becomes the next nation to take their place. Fairly certain their homes and their people were not going anywhere any time soon, they knew it could only mean one thing—this was one of those rare opportunities that they had only ever heard stories about. A few weeks later, they received news of another pregnancy, which only confirmed their suspicions. It took a lot of thinking and a lot of tough decision making for these couples to come to a conclusion, but in the end, they decided that they wanted to have their children and that they were willing to give up their immortality. In fact, it almost seemed like a blessing after all of the hell they had seen throughout their lives.

It wasn't long before other nations followed in their footsteps. About a month later, they learned of a third pregnancy. Over the course of the next year, several more nations made the conscious decision to have children.

Despite being sure of themselves, all of the new parents remained in a state of disbelief for some time. The reality truly began to set in when the first child, a little girl, was born.

One frosty afternoon in the middle of September, Alfred stepped up to the door of the Beilschmidt-Vargas household and gave it a gentle knock. He pulled his hoodie closer around him as a chill wind picked up; the air was already beginning to change. He thought about the fact that he would soon be raising a newborn child during the coldest part of the year. He felt almost guilty, but what could he do? It wasn't like he had exactly timed the birth to occur when he felt was best.

Thankfully, Ludwig answered the door quickly, and ushered him inside out of the cold.

"I hope it's not a bad time," Alfred said. "I know you guys just got home from the hospital less than forty eight hours ago, and you've probably had a lot of visitors already, but I couldn't help myself."

"It's perfectly understandable," Ludwig replied. "Since we happened to have the first born, everyone wants to see her. And I'm sure you're going to have your hands full fairly soon. Feliciano has her right now, if you would like to say hello. They're in the living room."

"Thanks, bro; I can't wait to see her."

He found Feliciano resting in a big comfy armchair beside a lit fireplace, holding the tiniest baby the American had ever seen close against his chest. The Italian looked up when Alfred entered the room, and greeted him with a smile.

"_Ciao, _it's good to see you!" he exclaimed, standing up to walk over to him. Even despite his clear exhaustion, he still managed to maintain his happy demeanor.

"I assume this is her," Alfred stated. In that moment, he wore a grin that matched Feliciano's.

"Yes it is," the older nation replied, turning to the side so that the newborn's face could be seen. "She's sleeping right now. It's all she does, really, but I already love her so much."

"I'm sure. What did you decide for a name?"

"Mia Elena. We couldn't choose between the two names so we gave her both."

"So she has a double first name?"

"Yep! Her middle name is Johanna, and we went with Beilschmidt for her last name. What about you? You must have a name picked out for your little boy. He'll be here any day now, right?"

"Yeah. We're thinking of naming him Taylor. Taylor Alfred Kirkland."

"That's nice; very simple and very English sounding. I like it."

"I like it too. Simple is what we wanted."

Alfred bent down slightly to get a better look at the child in Feliciano's arms.

"She's beautiful, Feli. And so light," he told him, lightly stroking Mia Elena's blonde hair with his fingertips.

"She's already taking after Ludwig, that's for sure," Feliciano said. "Though her eyes are starting to turn brown like mine; maybe she'll be a bit like me, too."

"I wish I could see them, but they're still closed at the moment," Alfred noted.

"Would you like to hold her?"

"Um… sure, I guess, if that's alright with you. I'm a bit afraid of dropping her, to be honest. She's so tiny."

"Well, you'll have to get used to it some time, so you may as well start practicing now. You can sit down if you want."

"Alright."

Alfred took a seat where Feliciano had previously been, and held out his arms to accept the baby. Feli placed her gently into his hands, helping the American to situate her in a way that would be comfortable for both her and for him.

"Arthur really wanted to come, too, but he decided he was better off where he was. He's not exactly moving as freely as usual at the moment. He's kind of a house," Alfred laughed.

"That's perfectly understandable; I'm sure he'll have plenty of chances."

"Children really are something special, though, aren't they? It just sucks that we have to give up being immortal to have our own."

"Not really," Feliciano said, kneeling down beside the armchair to look at his daughter. "You might not see it this way since you're so young, but after you've been around for a thousand years or so, living gets to be…kind of old, to put it simply. After living through so much, I'm ready to put it all behind me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And we still have time, yet. Our bodies are still young, even if our minds are much older. I believe we'll live to see our grandchildren, at least."

"Oh man, don't even say that!" the younger nation exclaimed. "I'm not even a father yet, you just barely became one, and here you are talking about grandchildren. I don't think my brain can handle that thought."

"Ve~, well then, don't worry about it for now. Just focus on being a good father instead. Trust me—you're going to need all the energy you have."

"Thanks, Feliciano. I'll do my best."

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><p><strong>One more thing:<strong> I wanted to wait until the end of this chapter to mention this. There is a simple reason why they lose their immortality by having children. It's because this seemed like the best solution to a problem I had-I didn't want the children to be immortal, but I didn't want their parents to outlive them, either. That's all it really is, which is why I don't talk about it in great detail. I will likely revisit the idea later on, though, and go more in-depth with it. In any case, thank you for reading!


	2. 002 - Love

Vash had never wanted kids of his own. In fact, he hadn't wanted anything at all to do with children. Through an unusual set of circumstances, however, he managed to find himself as the caretaker for two of them—a little girl from Scotland, and a little boy from Denmark.

It all began when Allistor Kirkland found himself in a rather difficult situation. A young woman from a family he knew had given birth to a child she could not keep, and had unfortunately had an unusually hard time finding an adoptive family. Reluctantly, Allistor had taken the child in, and called her Gabriella. He had known he could not keep her for the long term, however; being a father just didn't suit him, and so he had put the word out to other nations that he was looking for a permanent home for Gabby. Most of them hesitated at the idea, as their hands were full with their own children. Then Lili caught wind of the situation.

She adored the other nations' babies, and had wanted one of her own. Without a significant other, however, that remained not an option. She had thought of adoption but hadn't considered it very heavily until Gabriella came along. Because she lived with Vash, it had taken a lot of prodding to get him to finally agree to let her take the little girl in. He finally gave in, though, because it was "the right thing to do and obviously no one else was going to step forward and do it."

A few months later, Mathias came to them with a similar situation involving a boy he had come to call Adrian. He knew he had been asking a lot of Vash and Lili, but he wanted to see the boy in the care of a loving family. Again, Vash agreed, "because it was the right thing to do."

He had never expected that he would love them so much.

Then again, he had never expected Gabriella to be so kind and thoughtful, or Adrian to be so perceptive and intelligent. These qualities began to show in them at a very young age, though, and Vash couldn't help but admire them.

One sunny afternoon in July, a few days after Adrian's 3rd birthday, the Swiss sat on his front porch and watched the two children playing in the yard. For a moment, Gabby wandered a little too close to the road, and before he had the chance to call out to her, Adrian was already on top of the situation.

"Gabby, Papa says that… that we aren't s'posed to go near the road," he told her very firmly.

"But I wanna pick dese flowers," she insisted.

"But Gabby, we can't go near the road. Dere are cars in the road."

"I'm picking them for Papa."

"But they're next to the road. We can't go dere."

"But… but I just wanna pick them for Papa!"

"Papa!" Adrian cried, running over to Vash as fast as his little legs would carry him. "She won't listen. You said… you said that we aren't s'posed to go near the road but she won't listen to me. You have to make her listen!"

"You're very right, the road is dangerous," Vash replied, tousling the boy's white-blond locks. Then he took his tiny hand, and walked him over to where Gabriella still stood. "Now, what was that you wanted to do, Gabby?" he asked her, though he already knew the answer.

"I wanted to pick flowers for you, but they is too close to the road," she informed him.

"How about we go pick them all together, then? You, me, and Adrian. I'll walk over with you so that you stay safe."

"Okay," the redhead replied, and reached up to take Vash's free hand.

He walked the pair of children over to the edge of the road, letting the girl lead the way. When they arrived near the small patch of dandelions she had been after, she bent down and plucked them all out of the ground, all the while grasping on to Vash's hand. She then placed many of the yellow plants into his pants pocket, but handed one of them to Adrian as well. In moments such as these, the Swiss man could not help but be reminded how much he truly cared for these children. Seeing how much they loved him and each other made his heart melt, whether he would ever admit to it or not.

"Now what are you three up to?" came Lili's voice from the open doorway. "Are you out there having fun without me?"

"Gabriella is picking flowers for Adrian and me," Vash replied.

"How sweet! And it's such a beautiful day to be outside."

"It's sunny!" Adrian exclaimed.

"It is very sunny, isn't it?" Lili replied. "You put sunscreen on both of them, right big brother? They're both so pale; I wouldn't want them to get sunburned."

"Yes, I made sure they both had it on before we stepped out of the house."

"Good. Their skin is very sensitive, especially Adrian's. He already has lots of freckles on his face and his arms."

"Don't want sunburn cause it's ouchy," the blond boy said.

"Yeah, ouchy," the redheaded girl agreed.

"That's right. But Papa isn't going to let that happen to either of you," Vash told them, crouching down to their level. He lightly tapped each of their noses, causing them both to crinkle their faces and giggle. "Because guess what?" he asked. "Papa is always going to be here to look out for you two and make sure that you stay safe."

Though he never would say it out loud, anyone could see that he truly adored these children. A few short years beforehand, he never would have thought that his life would turn out this way; in that moment, however, he could not have imagined it any differently.


	3. 003 - Light

One Christmas Eve night, Arthur could not sleep no matter what he tried. It was not, however, the anticipation of the holiday keeping him awake—it was Alfred. The American seemed to toss and turn every few minutes, leading the Brit to conclude that some things just never change.

Seven years of parenting had certainly aged Alfred. He behaved more calmly and maturely than he once did, and his face had come to appear like that of a man in his mid-twenties. This did not stop him from becoming just as excited for Christmas as he always had, though. In fact, he often expressed his impatience more than his own children as they all waited for the special day. Clearly, this year was no different.

"Alfred, love, you need to calm down and try to rest," Arthur whispered. "There are still several hours until daylight, and it won't come any faster for either of us if you can't lay still and go to sleep."

"I know," Alfred said, releasing a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry I get like this every year, but I can't help it. I just get so excited for Christmas that I can't relax."

"I understand, but tomorrow won't be very enjoyable if you're exhausted from being up all night. There are sleeping pills in the medicine cabinet if you need them."

Arthur immediately rolled over to face away from Alfred in an attempt to ignore him. This may have worked, had he not heard a pitter-patter coming from above him. It lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to capture his attention. He sat up in bed, and listened closely. Then it happened again. Someone was definitely awake upstairs.

"So much for 'not a creature was stirring,'" Alfred commented, having heard the noise as well. "And apparently I'm not the only guilty one here."

"I'm willing to bet that it's Taylor. He's so much like you that it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he was up and around," Arthur replied.

"Maybe one of them is just using the bathroom or something. You wouldn't really expect a seven-year-old, a five-year-old, and a three-year-old to be sleeping soundly on December 24th, would you?"

"I suppose you're right—especially not when you're still keeping me up." Arthur poked at Alfred's sides as he said this, causing the American to flinch and squirm away while trying to cover himself with his arms.

"Gah, stop it!" he laughed. "You know I'm ticklish."

"Alright, alright. Anyway, as long as whoever it is gets back into bed shortly, I'll try not to worry about it."

Thinking that perhaps his husband was correct, Arthur settled back under the covers. He would not let himself fall asleep, though (assuming that it would even be possible with Alfred beside him.) He wanted to be absolutely sure that there were no children up and about.

A few minutes later, the pitter-patter began again. He didn't think much of it at first, but the longer it went on, the less convinced he became that someone was simply out of bed to use the bathroom. When he heard what sounded like multiple people running through the upstairs hallway, he knew at least two of his kids had to be misbehaving. Now irritated, he crawled out of bed and went to assess the situation. Alfred followed close behind.

All seemed quiet when they reached the top of the stairs. It appeared as though nothing was out of place, until they noticed one thing—the door to their oldest child's room was cracked open, and a sliver of bright light streamed out into the hallway.

Motioning for Alfred to stay quiet, Arthur crept towards Taylor's door. He listened for any sign of further movement, but heard nothing. Upon entering the room, he found their son in bed seemingly sound asleep, though he knew it couldn't be true—especially not when the lump beneath the covers was certainly larger than one child.

"Nice try, love," Arthur said. "Next time, try taking off you glasses before you get into bed—then I might be more convinced. Turning off the light might also help."

"How did you know to come upstairs?" the boy asked, removing his blue-framed glasses and setting them on his bedside table.

"You and your siblings aren't exactly the quietest kids that we know," Alfred, who stood directly behind Arthur, chimed in.

"They get it from you, you know," Arthur said to the younger man. "And Tay, you can tell your sister that I know she's hiding under there and that she needs to get back into her own bed."

"Aww, man!" came another voice. Soon enough, Emma, their second child, came out from under the blanket and, with a bit of difficulty, crawled over her brother to get out of bed. "We can't sleep; we're too excited for Christmas to come!"

"Doesn't that sound familiar," the Englishman muttered under his breath.

"Come on," Alfred said, motioning for Emma to come over to him. "Let's get you back where you belong. We all need to get at least a little sleep tonight. Santa won't come if everyone is up and around."

"Yeah, I guess," Emma said, and strolled over to where her parents stood. Alfred put an arm around her shoulders and led her back to her own bedroom. Meanwhile, Arthur stood by to make sure that Taylor didn't have any plans of getting up again. He was about to shut out the light when he heard a small giggle come from underneath the covers.

"Is Foster under there, too?!" he asked.

He walked over to the bed and pulled back the blanket, revealing their third child curled up against their first. The boy looked up at him with a guilty smirk and huddled even closer to his older brother, laughing.

"You too, young man," he said, picking the three-year-old up off the bed. He held him with one arm, resting him on his hip, while he used the other hand to tuck Taylor back in. "Santa only gives presents to the good children, you know; you wouldn't want to ruin all of you good behavior from the whole year on Christmas Eve."

"I want presents…" Foster said. He let his head drop against Arthur's shoulder, clearly fighting to stay awake.

"And you'll get them soon enough. For now, let's all get a good night's rest, shall we?"

"I guess… Taylor said, stifling a yawn. Arthur pushed back his son's blond bangs and bent down to give him a kiss on the forehead. He then returned to the doorway, shutting off the light on his way out.

"Goodnight sweetheart, I'll see you in the morning. Just close your eyes and try to sleep. Christmas will be here before you know it."

"Alright… night," he replied. Arthur smiled and closed the door, sure that the boy—and his other two children—would be off to sleep in no time.


	4. 004 - Dark

A storm raged through the night outside the Edelstein estate while those who lived there huddled safely beneath their covers. Among these residents were Adam and Christina, a pair of dark-haired, eight-year-old twins who could not sleep no matter how hard they tried. The low rumbles of thunder, the sound of raindrops pounding against the window, and the wind practically shaking the whole house kept them awake. To make matters worse, they knew that storms such as these often led to power outages, and nothing terrified either of them more than the dark. They both kept nightlights on in their bedrooms, but without electricity running to them, they would obviously be no good.

Christina, the braver of the twins, slid out of bed with her blanket draped over her shoulders. She decided to make her way towards her brother's bedroom in case the power did go out—then they would at least be together when it did, and they would both be a little less scared.

She began at a normal stroll towards her door, but then broke into a run upon reaching the dark hallway. She clutched onto the corners of her blanket as tight as she could and let the bottom of it trail along the wooden floorboards behind her.

"Adam? Are you awake?" She called out upon reaching the doorway to her brother's room.

"_Ja"_

"I'm scared that the power is going to go out."

"Me too."

Without hesitation, she made her way over to Adam's bed and crawled on top of it, dragging her blanket on top of both of them despite her twin already having one.

"We'll be safe if we stick together," she explained, "so I'm going to sleep here for tonight. At least until the storm is over."

"Okay."

For a few minutes both remained silent, each hoping that the power would stay on. They knew it would only be a matter of time, though, and the nightlight did eventually begin to flicker. The siblings grabbed onto each other's hand and held on tight, snuggling even closer together. For a moment the light went back to normal, but that only gave them false hope. Without a second warning, it shut off completely. Both gasped and pulled the blankets over their heads as quickly as possible, feeling that it would somehow help their situation.

"Now what do we do?" Adam asked.

"We stick together until it comes back on," Christina assured him, reminding him of their plan. She didn't want to admit that she was just as afraid as him.

"I hate the dark so much," he said. He was clearly on the verge of crying, which didn't help his sister feel any better. Even so, Christina tried her best to remain as calm as possible.

"Me too, but we'll be okay if we just stay like this."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The two managed to calm down after a while, but couldn't help becoming startled every time thunder struck or lightning flashed. They desperately hoped for the storm to be over soon.

Although it showed no signs of slowing down, a little extra comfort did come to them eventually.

They breathed a small sigh of relief when they heard the stairs creaking under someone's weight, knowing that one of their parents was on their way.

"I think it's Mama," Adam said. "She doesn't walk as heavy as Papa does."

"I think so too," Christina agreed.

Sure enough, the Hungarian's voice soon came to them from somewhere down the hall.

"Christina? Where are you darling?" she called.

"I'm in here with Adam, Mama," the female twin called back. She peeked out from under the covers just in time to see the light of a candle appear in the doorway.

"I lit a candle nightlight for you, only to discover you weren't in your bed. How are you two holding up?"

"We've been hiding under the blanket," Adam informed her. Able to see the light through the fabric as his mother entered the room and placed the candle on a nearby shelf, he gained enough courage to poke his head out as well. He felt much better knowing that she was there.

"Were you now?" Elizaveta asked. "You know it's just as dark under there, silly."

"Yeah, but it feels safer somehow," Christina explained.

"I see, I see. Well, I'm going to leave this candle here for you two so you don't have to be so afraid anymore."

"Thanks, Mama," both children said simultaneously.

"You're welcome, sweethearts. Sleep well."

As she prepared to leave the room, a rather loud crash of thunder came from the sky directly above their house, followed closely by a flash of lightning. This caused all three of them to jump, especially the two children.

"Actually, Mama? Can we sleep with you and Papa tonight?" Adam asked.

"If that's what makes you feel better, then I suppose it's alright," she replied. She took her son's hand in one of hers, and carried the candle in the other. Christina followed close behind, clinging to her mother's nightgown as all three of them made their way to the first floor where the master bedroom was. Roderich began to stir in the bed when the trio entered, probably disturbed by the sudden light from the candle, which Elizaveta promptly blew out. She could find her way around in the dark fairly well now.

"I've brought a couple of children with me," she told him in a half-whisper. "Ones who were too afraid to sleep in their own beds without a nightlight."

"Is that so?" the Austrian asked, sitting up. "In that case, I guess we have to let them crawl into bed with us. Not that your Mama would let me have much say in the matter, now would she kids? Is that why you came down here with her?"

"Yes, Papa," Christina said with a small giggle.

"Alright, come on in. All three of you."

Without hesitation, the twins got into bed and lay down in between their two parents. Parents were the best at keeping the scary stuff away. As they lay there, Elizaveta sang them an old Hungarian lullaby. Though Adam and Christina only spoke English and German, they enjoyed listening to the sound of her voice. Despite not being able to understand any of the words, the song brought them a lot of comfort and was enough to soon lull them off to sleep.


	5. 005 - Seeking Solace

**Authors notes:** To those who have been following the story, I made some changes to chapter 1 in regards to the loss of immortality thing as I will likely touch on it again and I was unhappy with how I had handled the idea. (The actual events of the chapter remain the same, however.)

To anyone in general reading this, I am intentionally vague in this chapter about who Veronica's father/Belarus's husband is because he isn't anyone from Hetalia. I don't really ship Belarus with anyone so I put her with someone from outside the series, but I'm trying to keep these stories as canon-characters only aside from the second generation OCs. Just wanted to mention that to avoid any possible confusion :)

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><p>Late in the afternoon on a gray and rainy day in the middle of October, Feliks curled up on the couch with a warm blanket and a book. Toris was away on business that week and Dominik, their only son at the time, was currently visiting a friend, so the Pole had the house to himself for a while. With no desire to step outside into the drizzle, he decided to take advantage of the silence and lose himself in the adventure he had recently discovered tucked away on a dusty shelf between two other novels.<p>

After about a half hour or so of reading, he heard a knocking. Confused as to who it could possibly be out at a time like this, he dog-eared his current page and set the book down on the coffee table in front of him, then stood to answer the front door. As he approached it, the person knocked again.

"Coming!" he answered, stretching his arm towards the doorknob. When he opened the door, Dominik's girlfriend Veronica, a tall and slender Belarusian girl, stood before him. Though the teens had been dating for less than a year, Feliks and Toris had already considered her family.

"Hey, is Dom here?" she asked. She seemed upset, though she was clearly attempting to hide it.

"Not right now, no. He is at Taylor's house this afternoon. Can I help you with anything?"

"No, it's fine," she replied. Sniffling, she turned to leave. "I'll just talk to him tomorrow or something."

"Hey, sweetie, wait," Feliks stopped her. She paused in her tracks and gazed back at him. With her height, they nearly stood eye-to-eye.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Why don't you come in," he offered. "You're totally soaked from being out in the rain. I can't just send you home like that."

"Oh, no, it's alright, I—"

"Really, I insist. I'll get you some dry clothes and you can, like, keep me company for a while. I don't mind at all. Toris is on a business trip so I'm all alone today."

Veronica shrugged.

"I guess."

"Come on in out of the rain before you catch a chill," he said, gently taking her by the forearm and pulling her inside. He rushed to the nearest bathroom to grab a clean towel, and presented it to her when he returned. "Here, put this on your head for a few minutes so you don't get any more soaked."

She graciously accepted the towel and proceeded to wrap her long hair in it. Though it helped her to warm up a bit, it wasn't long before she began to shiver.

"You can wear some of Dominik's dry clothes," Feliks told her. "He won't mind."

"You sure?"

"Totally! You know him well enough by now. If he were here, he'd be the first to offer his things to you."

He then led her up to his son's room and proceeded to dig through his dresser drawers in search of clothing that would at least somewhat fit Veronica, though he knew just about everything in there would be too large. He did eventually across some things that he deemed acceptable and handed them over to her.

"This is the smallest shirt he owns… you two are like almost the same height so it shouldn't be too baggy. The sweatpants will probably be big too but they at least have a drawstring. Come downstairs after you change and I can dry your hair for you."

"Thank you," she replied, accepting the clothing. She didn't feel much like talking during that moment, but knew she would need to prepare herself to do so for when she finished changing. Feliks wasn't about to let her go anywhere at any point soon so she decided she may as discuss her problems with him instead of awkwardly sitting there in silence. She had come to talk with Dominik, after all; though she didn't find the boy she had come looking for, his father would surely be willing to listen. In fact, she expected him to insist she just come out with it.

Feliks left the room and shut the door behind him, leaving her to herself while he went to search for a hairdryer. She met him in the kitchen downstairs a few minutes later where he instructed her to take a seat in one of the chairs at the table. He remained surprisingly quiet throughout the process, which took several minutes because her bubblegum-colored hair fell well below her shoulders. She didn't mind that the only sound between them for a while was the hot air blowing out of the hairdryer; it allowed her to collect her thoughts. In the meantime, she allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of his fingertips running through her long locks, as she found it comforting in a strange sort of way. Just as he and Toris considered her family, she saw them as additional parental figures in her life.

"Okay, so like, tell me what's going on," Feliks finally said, shutting off the hairdryer. Veronica responded with a heavy sigh, and then began.

"I'm just frustrated with my life right now," she admitted. "My home life is kind of crazy. Not bad, just… I always feel like I have more responsibility placed on me than I should at my age. My parents are very hands-off in their parenting style and they expect me and my siblings to work out our issues on our own. At least, our issues that we have with each other, that is. And being the oldest, it all comes back to me one way or another. My relationship with my sister Hannah has only gotten worse over the last few weeks; she keeps insisting that I'm perfect and she's not even though I assure her I'm far from it, and whenever I try to connect with her she just pushes me further away like she wants nothing to do with me. I don't know where all of this jealousy is suddenly coming from, but I can't very well do anything about it if she won't let me into her head. I just wish for once that at least one of my parents would step in and make her realize how ridiculous she's being. And then there's my brother… he's fine, I guess, but he's still a little kid and he doesn't really help the situation, especially when my parents don't seem to care that he's constantly nagging me. I swear, Feliks, sometimes you're more of a father to me than my own father. It certainly feels like it today."

"I'm sure everything will turn out fine," Feliks told her, placing his hands atop her head. He gently pulled her head backwards so that the back of it rested against his chest and she was looking up at him, and he gazed back down upon her in return. "Your parents love you, Veronica. They just want you to learn how to think for yourself. Sure maybe they could be less hands-off but that isn't really my place to say. As for your siblings, they'll grow up. Your brother won't be such a dork forever and your sister will probably outgrow her jealousy someday. In the meantime, don't forget that you always have a place with us here if you need it, okay? No matter what might happen between you and Dom, you can totally still talk to me or Toris. Got it?"

"Yeah," Veronica said. She smiled, and circled her arms around Feliks's neck to hug him. "I got it. Thanks for making me stay even when I didn't really want to at first."

"Any time."


End file.
